One day in April 2006, I was informed by Rwandatel CTO that I would attend an AFRINIC meeting in Nairobi as our company had received a fellowship from them. This intrigued me because I did not understand why our IP provider was willing to sponsor a trip for a member for no apparent reason.
Not only did I not find any catch but I discovered a community that I had no clue existed. I heard of IPv6 for the first time and later registered for a course which happened at AFRINIC 9 in Balaclava, Mauritius. This connection together with the AfNog one helped me grow quickly in the networking field.
Back home, many colleagues attended AFRINIC and AfNog events and we started seeing scalable network and systems managed by young Rwandans.
14 years later, AFRINIC has evolved in many ways and is still around committed to its mission of supporting Internet technology usage and development in Africa.
I have grown over the years to become AFRINIC’s CEO. The large number of support messages I have received since it happened has been very humbling and demonstrates the fact that AFRINIC is dear to the hearts of many people all over the world.
AFRINIC has had more than its fair share of ups and downs and challenges over the years. However, there are inspiring stories of its positive contributions and impact in many countries. It continues to play a fundamentally important role in Internet development across Africa and the Indian Ocean region.
During my few weeks in office, I have endeavoured with the team on analysing and identifying all key focus areas from the feedback we have received from our membership and community.
The key focus areas include:
- Restoring the accuracy of the database and enhancing membership experience.
- Delivering on promises of major technical products and projects anticipated by our membership and community.
- Building, developing and maintaining our community through providing capacity building, research and engagement opportunities.
- Restructuring a cohesive and efficient team that will deliver on all the above and more.
I would like to commend the team’s resilience and dedication over the years and I am a firm believer that our success will not be attainable without the involvement of each of us. As a member-based organisation and a community-driven organisation, the support of our members and community is also vital to our triumph as a whole.
I will be giving a monthly update on the progress we make on the different areas and we welcome your suggestions, support and constructive feedback as we travel this journey together.
